How do you make a sequel to a Louisa May Alcott story when there is no sequel in Alcott’s œuvre? Very carefully. In Hallmark Channel’s case, the follow-up to its successful 2008 holiday film An Old-Fashioned Thanksgiving had to involve a proper script, the right setting and the right cast — and it would have to include Jacqueline Bisset, who starred as the strong-willed Isabella Crawford in the original. Well, they must have done something right, because she’s back for An Old-Fashioned Christmas, premiering on Hallmark Channel Dec. 11.
What is it about this character that drew you back to her for this sequel?
Jacqueline Bisset: Well, the first one, I was always quite attracted to Louisa May Alcott as a writer — the first one was based on a short story and that drew me into the whole thing. Doing some of these quality pieces that are well done — it always draws me in if I feel there’s something I can do. I quite like doing period things. I like words, and I like the idea of expressing myself without having to say, “You know?” every two minutes, or whatever the modern language is. … She’s a bit more out there in the second one, and the character has grown in a different way. … And I thought the idea of traveling around the world … well, why not? [Laughs.] If I hadn’t liked the second script, I wouldn’t have followed, I guess. But it seemed like a good idea. Anything that’s successful is hard to find. So let’s hope this one’s a success.
Who had the nerve to follow in Alcott’s footsteps and pen the screenplay?
Donald Martin wrote it. Donald Martin, who is somebody who I’ve been trying to work with for quite a long time. He had a script, they were interested in me doing it, and it never came to be, so I jumped on this. I was very happy to work with Donald. He’s a Canadian writer who I met — he lives now in Los Angeles — and he’s very talented.
You often get take-charge, domineering roles. Is that just what’s been offered to you over the years, or is it just the real you coming out in your choice of parts to play?
I can certainly take charge. I can do that. … If there’s nobody taking charge, I will take charge — if there’s no one doing it. If there’s somebody there to do it, then I’m delighted. But I’m not sort of wishy-washy, generally, in such situations, but I don’t think I’m so interfering, also, as [Isabella] is. She’s quite a handful. She means well, but she is a handful. But I think, underneath, she’s been through a lot. She’s been misjudged early on.
What did you come away with from taking this character out a second time?
Well, I think, trying to control people doesn’t work. Even with good intentions. It’s a very fine thing — giving advice to people is pretty unsuccessful, usually. I think if people ask for it — and there are people who do ask, specifically, at certain times, to have advice. But most of the time, people will do exactly as they wish, and you let them make their mistakes and just try to be there to catch them when they need you.
And in terms of romance, one never knows what’s really going on with other people. Judging is a bit pointless, and you obviously have your feelings. But I think my character certainly knew the kind of lag that this young Earl of Shannon was, and that in the long haul, he probably wouldn’t be good for her. But I think she did find him sympathetic. She liked kind of quibbling with him. They had their own little repartee going.
You’ve had the opportunity to have your own repartee with some of the most incredible screen talents both behind and in front of the camera. Whose influence in particular has stuck with you?
Well, I don’t know about any specific one person, but everything teaches me something. I’m always on the lookout to learn something. … Going back beyond my career, I feel that the most that I learned from my parents is what they did not teach me. That this is what I’ve had to do on my own. And one is protected by what one [is taught], to some degree, so when you don’t have a teacher, when you are in a strange space and you have to survive, that’s where I’ve really learned the most — on film and in life.
And then, of course, there have been people who have given me really suitable advice at the right time. People like Terence Stamp, who was very helpful to me at a certain point, giving me very clear little phrases that helped me progress. One of the more important ones being, “Do what is in front of you.” It was very apt for the time. I was foundering a bit and not knowing how to make decisions and he was helpful. I’ve had a few friends who — most of them have been people who have had rather excessive lives and have had to back down a bit because they couldn’t handle the heat of the frying pan, and they learned some quiet things and they passed them on. That tends to be the way I receive information best — from someone who’s maybe been excessive.
One of my colleagues mentioned the notorious scene in The Deep when we were setting up this interview. Does the hubbub from that film still get to you, or are you over it by now?
I’m not over it. It’s boring, really. It irritates me. But I can see — I hope it doesn’t become my epitaph — but I can see how it added to my fame, I suppose. It has nothing to do with me, really.
On to future projects. It looks like there’s another period piece in your future — this Vivaldi film.
Now that’s just one of those rumors that’s been going on forever. I haven’t any intention of doing this film, whether the film is ever made. I never said I would do it. They asked me to, and it’s been this endless press about it for years. I don’t know if it’s a real film, even. It’s one of those endless rumors. They’ve even made a short little subject — on YouTube or something — with scenes from other movies, putting us all together in there as if the film has been made. And they’re scenes from a movie I did called Dangerous Beauty. And there I am as a courtesan in Venice, playing this character in Vivaldi, in these scenes. It’s bizarre. It’s a fantasy, I think. There was a script. I did read a script several years ago, which wasn’t a good part at all. It was a tiny part, and I thought, “Oh, well, maybe this is potentially something. Vivaldi? It might be good. I don’t know.” But eventually, it just — it’s not true. It’s not real.
Whom would you like to be playing?
I’d like to play a really bad woman. A really feisty, bad woman with a bit of “oomph.” I don’t know if you ever saw the thing I did on Nip/Tuck. … That character was a horrendous character. She was very fun, and she was glamorous, in a way, and she was just — she was in the body parts business. She was an awful character, and it was a fun arc. People loved me in that role. It was a sort of criminal person. I really enjoyed it. I’d love to do something like that — because people were just shocked, surprised that I could be so wicked. I wouldn’t mind doing that — or some comedy. But not slapstick. Just really smart, witty comedy. Just a little bit of smile. A bit of wry quality.
